A US senator has requested “full transparency” from the International Criminal Court (ICC) after reported allegations of sexual harassment by its top prosecutor, Karim Khan KC.
“Public reports indicate that allegations of harassment surfaced in early May—just a few days before Prosecutor Khan applied for arrest warrants against the Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of Israel,” US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a letter to the ICC last week.
The senator went on to say that the timing of the allegations is troubling, and “only compounds the other strong legal, jurisdictional, and prudential objections I have expressed regarding the Prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants”.
Khan’s decision to apply for arrest warrants “took the United States Senate by surprise, and was inconsistent with the Prosecutor’s legal obligations,” Graham said.
“I request full transparency on the matter to ensure there is no conflict of interest. These media reports are disturbing, and I call for a release of the records pertaining to these allegations, including any decision not to open an investigation, and for an update on where this matter stands.”
The ICC chief prosecutor is facing allegations that he attempted to force a female aide into a sexual relationship and “groped her against her will,” the Washington Post reported last week.
Khan has denied the claims, and ICC officials speculated that they may have been part of an Israeli intelligence smear campaign.
According to the Post, the woman initially confided in two co-workers, who reported the alleged incident to the court’s independent watchdog. Following a five-day probe into the matter, which included an interview with the woman, she decided to lift her complaint.
However, sources close to the woman told the Associated Press that she distrusted the internal watchdog and has since requested that the Assembly of States Parties, which oversees the court, to launch an external investigation.
An ICC official was cited as saying that the request remains under consideration.
According to AP, it obtained documents shared with the ICC’s watchdog and held talks with eight individuals with knowledge on the subject, including sources close to the woman.
One such source told AP: “This wasn’t a one-time advance or an arm around the shoulder that could be subject to misinterpretation. It was a full-on, repeated pattern of conduct that was carried out over a long period of time.”
The documents read that Khan allegedly asked the woman to rest with him on a hotel bed and then “sexually touched her.” Later, he knocked on her hotel door for 10 minutes at 3 a.m.
Khan, as mentioned, denied the allegations, saying there was “no truth to suggestions of misconduct” and that he has always supported victims of sexual harassment and abuse in his 30 years of work. He added that, if asked, he would cooperate with any inquiry.
In May, Khan demanded the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes. He placed the two Israelis together with then-Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif and Hamas politburo head Ismail Haniyeh. (All three were eliminated by Israel over the past year.)
The ICC has no jurisdiction as Jerusalem is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the court. But the court claimed jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, even though no such state exists under international law.
The 123 countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute are obligated to act on any arrest warrant it issues, raising the possibility that the two Israeli leaders could be placed under arrest while visiting these places.